Footage printing machine



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 D. B- RANKIN ETAL FOOTAGE PRINTING MACHINE m m M 88 M VS T mm T 2. em A UV DD o o 0% 5., w Amvv awy l fi-l I .r| :p T m E Aug. 4, 1964 Filed May 14 1962 Aug. 4, 1964 D. B. RANKIN ETAL FOOTAGE PRINTING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14 1962 INVENTORS DOUGLAS B. RANKIN DAVID SEA BY- law/J 1 ATTORNEYS Aug. 4, ,964 D. a. RANKIN ETAL 3,143,062

FOOTAGE PRINTING MACHINE Filed May 14, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 5o 51 ,SOLENO/D VALVES MECHANICAL 42 DRIVE PRINTERS l I I l 46\ c0u-TERs 47 RATCHET RELAYs\ T FIG. 4

E RATCHE T RELAY 52 INVENTORS DOUGLAS B. RANKIN DAVID W. SEAGER I BY- X Y Q A TTORNEYS United States Patent Filed May 14, 1962, Ser. No. 194,451 3 Claims. (Cl. 101-74) This invention relates to measurement and marking of lengths of continuously moving material.

At present, if it is desired to mark cables or the like in lengths of, say 100 feet, and to print the footage thereon at intervals of one foot, it is a simple matter to move the cable past a standard numbering machine or counter which has two rings having 0 to 9 thereon and which re-sets to zero after reaching 99 and to use this counter for marking the footage on the cable. Thus, as long as the cable is fed, the counter will mark the footage thereon in predetermined lengths of 100 feet. There are standard counters available with the last ring to rotate having the series 0, 1 repeated five times, the series 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 repeated twice, or the usual 0 to 9. In this way printers are available that will print 0 to 19, O to 199, etc., 0 to 49, 0 to 499, etc., or 0 to 99, O to 999, etc., depending on the number of rings used, and reset automatically to zero. However, it is not always convenient or desirable to work in these easily marked lengths and the problem arises as to how desirable intermediate lengths can be continuously marked. The present invention overcomes this problem and may be utilised for the continuous marking of any predetermined lengths in which the number of unit lengths or multiplicand is capable of multiplication by a whole number or multiplier to give a final number or product which is equal to the final number available on a standard counter plus one.

According to the invention there is provided a method of marking ofi" such predetermined lengths which comprises continuously moving the material to be marked past a plurality of standard marking counters equal in number to said multiplier, said counters being adapted to reset to zero after counting to one below said product, effecting successive relative movement at predetermined intervals between each of said counters and the material so that each of said counters marks off said predetermined length on the material, and adjusting said counters so that in operation the number on a counter in contact with the material lags the number on the counter which has just finished marking the material by an amount equal to the number of units in said predetermined length plus the distance between the two counters in the direction of travel of the material when said counter which has just finished marking is disposed in advance of the counter in contact with the material in the direction of travel of the material.

Also, according to the present invention, we provide apparatus for carrying out the aforesaid method.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a part-sectional plan view of apparatus for marking cable in 250 ft. lengths and comprising two side-by-side marking units;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional front elevation of one of the units, taken on the line 22 in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation corresponding to FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of control means for moving the marking units into and out of engagement with the cable, and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic diagram of a circuit used to time the control means.

3,143,952 Patented Aug. 4, 1964 ice The apparatus comprises two side-by-side marking or printing units designated generally as 11) and 11 through which cable 12 passes in succession. A motor 13 drives the main shaft 14 of unit 10 through a gear train 15 and the main shaft 16 of unit 11 is driven from shaft 14 by a chain drive 17. Apart from the common drive motor, however, the units are quite independent and since they are identical in structure only unit 10 will be described in detail.

Unit 10, as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, has a standard 0-499 printer or marking counter 13 comprising a hub 19 mounted on shaft 14, two diametrically opposed arms 20 and 21 extending outwardly from hub 19 and two printing heads 22, 23 mounted on the ends of arms 20, 21, respectively. Each of the heads 22, 23 goes from 0 to 499 and resets to zero but they are arranged to count 2 units for each revolution of shaft 14 so that head 22 prints only odd numbers and head 23 prints only even numbers on cable 12. The printing heads are peripherally spaced one foot apart and shaft 14 is driven so that the heads rotate at a peripheral speed equal to the linear speed of the cable passing through the machine. Thus, the cable is marked off accurately in feet. It will be appreciated, of course, that only one printing head need be used but in that event the speed of the shaft 14 would have to be doubled. In any event, the arrangement shown is preferred as it gives balance to the system. The counting mechanisms in the heads 22, 23 are advanced by their bell-crank levers 24, 25, respectively, engaging in a circular track 26 formed in a plate 27, bolted or otherwise secured to the back wall 28 of unit 10 so that the centre of track 26 is offset vertically downward from the axis of hub 19 and a camming action is thus exerted on levers 24, 25. Each vertical oscillation of a bellcrank lever, which occurs once in every revolution of shaft 14 by virtue of this camming action, advances the associated counting mechanism two units.

Inking mechanism is provided for supplying ink to the printing heads once every revolution and this comprises a semi-circular ink container 29 having a steel wheel 30 running partially submerged therein. A wiper 31 is pivotally mounted at 32 and has fingers 33 on opposite sides of the wheel 30. A nylon insert 34 extends across the fingers 33 parallel to the fiat circumferential surface of the wheel 30. The fingers 33 and insert 34 are positioned close enough to the wheel 30 to prevent excess ink being drawn up. The position of insert 34 can be adjusted by the adjusting screw 35 to vary the thickness of ink left on the contact surface of the wheel 30. A rubber coated transfer wheel 36 picks up the ink from the wheel 30 and transfers it to the printers 22 and 23 as they pass by and contact the wheel 36. The wheels 31) and 36 are driven at the correct speed and direction bya chain 37 from a sprocket 38 on shaft 14. The peripheral speed of the two wheels must be the same as the circumferential speeds of the printers 22 and 23.

Above the marking counter 18 there is mounted a pressure roller device which presses the cable 12 against the printer heads 22, 23 and lifts the cable from these printers when it is not required for the machine to print. It consists of a pressure wheel 39 rotatably mounted on a shaft 40 which is in turn mounted on a vertically slidable frame 41. An air cylinder 42 mounted on a bracket 43 on wall '28 actuates the frame 41 vertically to put the cable 12 in contact with the printers or out of contact with them. Rollers 44 and 45 on frame 41 assist in guiding the cable and lifting it from contact with the printers when required.

The unit 10 could, of course, be used alone for repeatedly marking off 500 ft. lengths of cable but in the the two units were placed one above the other they could be adjusted so that unit 19 would read zero when unit 11 reads 250 and vice versa. Then, when one unit had printed 250, the cable could be moved vertically out of engagement with this unit and into engagement with the other unit so that it could print the next 250 ft. length and so on. However, this would result in the printing appearing on alternate sides of the cable and this is undesirable in some instances although, of course, such an arrangement falls within the scope of this invention. An arrangement which would overcome this disadvantage could be achieved by placing the units faceto-face and moving the cable or the units laterally of the cable every 250 ft. The preferred arrangement, however, is the side-by-side arrangement shown in FIG. 1 with the axes of shafts 14 and 16 spaced 1 foot apart, even though compensation must be made for this distance in operating the machine. This compensation is efiected in the following manner.

Assuming that the cable passes through unit 10 before passing through unit 11 the printing heads are adjusted so that those of unit 19 lag those of unit 11 by 249 or, conversely, those of unit 11 lag those of unit 10 by 251. Thus, when unit 19 prints 250, unit 11 reads 499. By raising the cable away from unit 1% and allowing one further revolution of unit 11 to take place before lowering the cable to engage this unit, the 001 mark will be printed at the correct location on the cable, i.e. one foot behind the 250 mark. Now, when unit 11 prints its 250 mark unit it? reads 001 and the cable is moved in to print this mark at the same time as unit 11 is printing the 250. If this sequence is repeated the cable will be marked off in continuous 250 ft. lengths.

To ensure that the sequence is repeated, impulse counters 46, 47 of known type are connected to shafts 14 and 16, respectively (see FTGURES 1 and 4). The counters can be geared through any desired ratio to the shafts. The preferable ratio would be a set-up of 1:2 since each counter should read the number of feet passing through its associated unit 10 or 11, in which one complete revolution of the shaft 14 or 16 represents two feet of cable. Should the gearing be 1:1 then a 250 foot length would be represented by a counter reading of 125.

Ratchet relays 48, 49 (FIGURE 4) are connected with impulse counters 46, 47, respectively, for actuation thereby and are connected with solenoid valves 59, 51 respectively, for actuation of the latter to control the flow of compressed air from a suitable source (not shown) to the cylinders 42 of units It and 11. The electrical circuit which includes switch contacts 54 of counter 45, relay 48, its contacts 52 and 53, and solenoid valve 59 is shown in FIGURE and a similar circuit, of course, is set up for unit 11.

A counter such as described above will actuate the electric control circuit each time it attains the predetermined setting. This means that on reaching a setting of 250, it will close a switch 54 in the electric control circuit and then reset itself to zero and open the switch after 0.3 second. The ratchet relay, which is the im-' portant part of the electrical circuit, is a control which, on receiving a first impulse, will energize a circuit and then on receiving a second impulse will de-energize the circuit.

The operation of the control circuit can be shown for one unit only as each unit has its own identical circuit which is not interconnected with that of theother. Assume that the sequence of events begins with unit printing 1 to 250. The normal open contact of the ratchet relay is closed energizing the solenoid valve which permits air to flow to the cylinder 42 which forces the cable into printing contact with unit 10. The counter is registering the same figures as unit It) is printing. When unit 10 prints 250, and the counter reads 250,

the counter closes its contacts which energizes a coil in the ratchet relay. This causes the ratchet relay to reverse, opening its normally open contact, which de-energizes the solenoid valve and shuts off the air to the cylinder 42 which in turn retracts to lift the cable from the printing head. While unit It) continues to advance to 499, the counter has reset and is again proceeding from 0 to 250. When unit it) has reached 499 and reset to 000, the counter is at 250 and again energizes the ratchet relay which now closes its normally open contacts to actuate the cylinder 42 into printing position. An identical circuit is simultaneously controlling unit 11 but lagging by 251. The sequence is represented graphically below:

Unit 10 Printing Printing 499 000 i 001 002 249 250 I 251 252 499 000 001 002 248 249 250l251 498 499 000 001 248 249 250'251 Printing Printing Unit 11 comprises a plurality of identical marking counters, in

spaced side by side relationship along the length of the strip of material, each counter having a unit length count capacity before reset to zero exceeding the total unit lengths in a repetitive length, and the number of marking counters required being equal to hte unit count capacity of a single marking counter plus one divided by the repetitive length to be marked, means for simultaneously driving said marking counters, and means to sequentially move each said marking counters and said material relative to each other so as to effect a marking engagement whereby each marking counter successively marks oif said repetitive lengths on the material, an impulse counter associated with each marking counter and driven by said driving means, each said impulse counter being interconnected with the moving means associated with each marking counter to control the sequential operation thereof, said marking counters being adjusted relative to one another so that the count on a successive counter lags the count on a previous counter by an amount equal to the units in a repetitive length plus the distance between the counters, whereby the sequential engagement of the marking counters with the material renders each counter etfective to mark the material only over that portion of its count capacity equal to a repetitive length and whereby the adjustment and the spacing. of said marking counters compensates for the zero reset of the counter to achieves continuous marking of unit lengths in successive repetitive lengths on the material.

2. The invention according to claim 1 wherein the distance between adjacent marking counters is equal to a unit length.

3. The invention according to claim 1 wherein each said sequential moving means is a fluid actuator to which flow of actuating fiuid is controlled by a solenoid valve operating under the influence of the impulse counter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. APPARATUS FOR MARKING OFF PREDETERMINED REPETITIVE LENGTHS ON A STRIP OF MOVING MATERIAL, EACH REPETITIVE LENGTH BEING A TOTAL OF A SERIES OF UNIT LENGTHS, WHICH COMPRISES A PLURALITY OF IDENTICAL MARKING COUNTERS, IN SPACED SIDE BY SIDE RELATIONSHIP ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE STRIP OF MATERIAL, EACH COUNTER HAVING A UNIT LENGTH COUNT CAPACITY BEFORE RESET TO ZERO EXCEEDING THE TOTAL UNIT LENGTHS IN A REPETITIVE LENGTH, AND THE NUMBER OF MARKING COUNTERS REQUIRED BEING EQUAL TO THE UNIT COUNT CAPACITY OF A SINGLE MARKING COUNTER PLUS ONE DIVIDED BY THE REPETITIVE LENGTH TO BE MARKED, MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY DRIVING SAID MARKING COUNTERS, AND MEANS TO SEQUENTIALLY MOVE EACH SAID MARKING COUNTERS AND SAID MATERIAL RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER SO AS TO EFFECT A MARKING ENGAGEMENT WHEREBY EACH MARKING COUNTER SUCCESSIVELY MARKS OFF SAID REPETITIVE LENGTHS ON THE MATERIAL, AN IMPULSE COUNTER ASSOCIATED WITH EACH MARKING COUNTER AND DRIVEN BY SAID DRIVING MEANS, EACH SAID IMPULSE COUNTER BEING INTERCONNECTED WITH THE MOVING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH MARKING COUNTER TO CONTROL THE SEQUENTIAL OPERATION THEREOF, SAID MARKING COUNTERS BEING ADJUSTED RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER SO THAT THE COUNT ON A SUCCESSIVE COUNTER LAGS THE COUNT ON A PREVIOUS COUNTER BY AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE UNITS IN A REPETITIVE LENGTH PLUS THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE COUNTERS, WHEREBY THE SEQUENTIAL ENGAGEMENT OF THE MARKING COUNTERS WITH THE MATERIAL RENDERS EACH COUNTER EFFECTIVE TO MARK THE MATERIAL ONLY OVER THAT PORTION OF ITS COUNT CAPACITY EQUAL TO A REPETITIVE LENGTH AND WHEREBY THE ADJUSTMENT AND THE SPACING OF SAID MARKING COUNTERS COMPENSATES FOR THE ZERO RESET OF THE COUNTER TO ACHIEVE A CONTINUOUS MARKING OF UNIT LENGTHS IN SUCCESSIVE REPETITIVE LENGTHS ON THE MATERIAL. 